Investigating Adverb Shift in English

The focus of this paper is the little noted phenomenon in English, where a 'low' adverb, e.g. manner adverb, can surface exceptionally high in the clause in VP-ellipsis contexts. First, I establish the basic empirical facts surrounding this construction and show that such adverbs are contrastively focused and undergo movement from within the VP-ellipsis target to a higher surface position. Further, I show that the position the adverb moves to is not fixed but varies depending on what material is in the ellipsis remnant. Based on these data I argue that in such constructions, the adverb has undergone PF movement to a higher clausal position in order to resolve a PF-based issue that can arise in VP-ellipsis contexts. Subsequently, I develop an analysis in these terms.